Best Foreign Films of All Time

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, this French musical relays all its dialogue through song. Catherine Deneuve delivers a seminal performance as Geneviève Emery, who experiences love and loss over the course of several years. “If you don’t find this movie irresistible, you should get your eyesight checked,” wrote critic Adam Nayman for The Ringer.

Director F. W. Murnau adapted Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” without permission when bringing this groundbreaking silent film to life. Presented in the German expressionist style, it follows the vampire Count Orlok (Max Schreck) in his pursuit of another man’s wife.

Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky uses a classic sci-fi novel as means to explore psychological trauma in this haunting drama. The story takes place on a distant planet, where an alien life force gets into the heads of all those who encounter it.

One of the most famous films of the French New Wave, Godard’s masterpiece imparts effortless coolness as it upends sub-genre convention. It tells the story of a small-time crook (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his love interest (Jean Seberg), who make casual plans in the wake of a deadly crime.

Set in Francoist Spain, this heralded drama follows a young girl into a fantasy world of her own creation. Her imaginative journey conjures the innocence of childhood, even as it comes up against a brutal reality.